The loss of both members of the top defence pairing was a tough one-two punch. Smid, one of the club’s emotional leaders, was felled late in the first by a questionable hit by Dustin Brown, and was reported as having a neck injury, or as Tom Renney put it, “a stinger”. Scary news for a guy who had major neck surgery two summers ago, but who since has played 156 of 160 Oilers games. Ladi’s quest for an 82-game season has ended just shy of the finish line, given today’s news that he didn’t travel with the team to California. Ditto for Petry who took a clearing shot right in the face early in the second, left the game for X-rays, and now he too has not made the trip. Like Brown earlier, the puck was not penalized on the play. (Weak attempt at gallows humour, a staple for Oilers fans.)

With the back line now down to five healthy bodies (Theo Peckham is also out, with concussion) the Oilers can declare a legitimate emergency on the blue, and did so today with the emergency recall of Colten Teubert.

Up front the team is healthier but question marks hang over a few players, especially two Swedes. The situation was bad enough for Paajarvi, whose hopes were raised and dashed in rapid succession, as he flew first to Edmonton, then back to Milwaukee (where the OKC Barons were playing), ultimately missing a game in each city. That had to be a tough second flight for a 20-year-old kid who was slated to play last night’s game and as many as four more on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, only to be denied the opportunity due to an administrative snafu. The club apparently wasted their recall of Paajarvi in a paper transaction Feb 27, only to send him back down to OKC days later in any event without the youngster having played in any additional games.

Renney commiserated:

“It’s too bad he wasn’t able to play. I think we’re pretty comfortable with Magnus being an Oiler, and a full-time Oiler. At the end of the night that is the most important thing. This is a very good young hockey player that will be everything we hope he will be. We just might have to wait for the opportunity.”

… which at least sounds as if the organization has firm plans for him, if not exactly the best-laid ones. One hopes that Paajarvi will return to OKC with the same great attitude he carried upon previous demotions, although this latest one has to be hard to swallow.

Omark’s future with the team appears short-lived. Despite Paajarvi’s unavailability, Omark found himself healthy-scratched for the second straight game, this after scrimmaging on the second scoring line with Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky on Thursday and Friday. Instead, when the dust settled after the Paajarvi fiasco, Teemu Hartikainen was back riding shotgun with Gagner and Hemsky; Ryan Jones was still on the left side with RNH and Eberle; Lennart Petrell kept his spot with Shawn Horcoff and Ryan Smyth; and the only change up front involved Chris VandeVelde taking Eric Belanger’s spot on the fourth line and penalty kill unit. Before the night was done, CVV even found himself taking a few emergency shifts on the blueline.

Renney’s post-game comments about Omark were not very positive:

“He’s in a bit of a logjam with people in front of him, quite honestly. Makes it difficult for him to get in and do what I think he’s capable of, but I’m less certain of that now.”

That last remark seems to be a tell. For sure, Omark didn’t help his own cause with some spotty play this year, both in his five games early in the season or in the nine games he’s played since his recall, but it also appears he’s had an extremely short leash. One crude metric of Omark’s erratic performance from game to game can be seen in his Cult of Hockey game grades:

… with those last two desultory efforts in Florida and Columbus perhaps representing Linus’s swan song with the Oil. My colleague Jonathan Willis graded both of these with the following comments:

#23 Linus Omark, 3. One of my favourites got caught puck-watching on the Panthers’ lone goal (given the Oilers’ collapse to the other side of the ice, his decision to cut in was understandable but incorrect) and took two penalties on top of it. He really didn’t help himself against Florida.

#23 Linus Omark, 3. Did himself no favours on the first goal of the game, when he failed to adequately check Mark Letestu after Corey Potter had wandered out for a little own-zone sojourn; the end result was that the Blue Jackets’ depth guy was allowed to walk in and score. Omark followed this up by helping Belanger hand Rick Nash a penalty shot, and simply didn’t do much offensively.

Defensive miscues, penalties, and sporadic offence is not a recipe apt to curry favour with any coach, and Tom Renney is no exception.

Among the late-season call-ups, Omark had been recalled before either Hartikainen and VandeVelde, but now finds himself sitting behind both second-year Barons. Despite being named to the team’s Clear Day roster on March 5, Omark seems unlikely to return to OKC, having passed the 60-game threshold during his latest call-up that would necessitate the 25-year-old clearing waivers to play in the AHL playoffs. Far more likely that he will be allowed to play for Sweden in the upcoming World Championships, with the Oilers retaining their rights over the soon-to-be-RFA in the hopes of getting at least some value back in an off-season deal. From this distance the likelihood of his returning to Edmonton in 2012-13 seems vanishingly small.

The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Colten Teubert on an emergency basis from the Oklahoma City Barons, as per an announcement on the team’s official website.

The Oilers are over their four recall limit, but because they don’t have six healthy …

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The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Colten Teubert on an emergency basis from the Oklahoma City Barons, as per an announcement on the team’s official website.

The Oilers are over their four recall limit, but because they don’t have six healthy defensemen on the roster Teubert will get an opportunity to fill in. Ladislav Smid and Jeff Petry were injured in last night’s game; Theo Peckham suffered a concussion a few days earlier. This means the Oilers will likely enter their next game with half of their defensemen being Corey Potter, Cam Barker and Colten Teubert.

At a guess, this means a ton of minutes for the pairing of Ryan Whitney and Nick Schultz as they move into the top role. The alternative is that the Oilers will attempt to balance their back end by splitting those players up. Andy Sutton is a competent veteran who will be asked to do more. Corey Potter has struggled of late, but undoubtedly he’ll also be asked to do more. Cam Barker will find his way back to the lineup; Colten Teubert will get NHL minutes once again.

The Oilers are 5-3-2 in their last 10, even with the loss to the Kings last night. They’d been making some headway in the basement, climbing to the point that a strong finish might bring them outside of this summer’s draft lottery. This has been one of the publicly stated goals of general manager Steve Tambellini. Now that seems unlikely – Potter’s having difficulties as it is, Barker’s been a train-wreck this season and Teubert struggled during an earlier recall.

Still, this isn’t all bad. Teubert is having a strong season in the AHL, and it will be interesting to see how he’s come along over the course of the season. In the worst case scenario, the Oilers will secure the second overall slot in the pre-lottery draft rankings.

The Oilers called up sophomore left winger Magnus Paajarvi from their Oklahoma City farm club Friday, only to send him right back there, same-day return. They had exhausted their four post …

]]>Of course, it didn’t look good, didn’t look competent.

The Oilers called up sophomore left winger Magnus Paajarvi from their Oklahoma City farm club Friday, only to send him right back there, same-day return. They had exhausted their four post trade deadline call-ups, the NHL told them, so back Paajarvi had to go.

The only way he could have been called up would have been on an emergency situation, if the Oilers forwards were stacked up five or six deep at the emergency ward, in other words.

Such is not the case for the Oilers as they slouch toward the finish line of another non-playoff season. Bye-bye, Magnus. At least until training camp.

“We believed we had confirmation to recall Magnus in one of our four call-ups after the trade deadline,” Oilers GM Steve Tambellini said in a statement. “The league informed us today the only way he could be recalled was under an emergency recall basis.”

In other words, having already recalled Teemu Hartikainen, Linus Omark, Chris VandeVelde and, in February, Paajarvi, in a paper transaction designed to clear him to play in the AHL playoffs, the Oilers were out of call-ups.

In the annals of NHL procedural snafus, there have been far worse organizational blunders. But the optics are not good.

The Ottawa Senators selecting ineligible players at their expansion draft comes immediately to mind. Not once, mind you, not twice, but three times then-Senators GM Mel Bridgman stepped to the microphone at a downtown Montreal hotel to claim this or that player. Three times he was rebuked by then NHL vice-president Brian O’Neill, his irritation rising with each iteration.

“Ottawa apologizes,” a sheepish Bridgman finally blurted into the microphone.

It became a mantra for those horrid, blundering, expansion Senators. “Ottawa apologizes,’ indeed.

Years before, Montreal Canadiens GM Irving Grundman tried to pull a sly, Sam Pollock-like move during a similar exercise.

He lost beloved, if limited defenceman Pierre Bouchard to Washington, but, by prearrangement, traded for him right away. He had just parked Bouchard with the Capitals, briefly, in return for a favor, just as Pollock had done many times. Or so Grundman thought.

Oops. The NHL had changed the rules, outlawing that sneaky practice. So Bouchard was gone and not terribly long after that, so was Grundman.

In July 2009, on then Chicago Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon’s watch, the club missed the deadline for qualifying offers to be submitted to six (6) restricted free agents, including Cam Barker and Kris Versteeg. Hey, you miss the deadline for one, logically you’re going to miss it for all of ‘em.

As with the Oilers boo-boo, it looked ridiculous. It looked incompetent.

Tallon was soon dismissed by the Blackhawks, replaced by Stan Bowman, Scotty’s son. Tallon, of course, landed on his feet in Florida, where his work rebuilding the Panthers has been widely lauded around the league.

Turns out he’s mighty competent after all. A mistake was made on his watch. It happens.

In Edmonton, it’s a shame young Paajarvi, who seems to have found his game of late in Oklahoma, was unable to rejoin the Oilers for the final five games of the season.

He misses out on a couple of bigger pay cheques, misses out on playing with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, which certainly was the plan on Friday night.

The Oilers well-intentioned gesture toward a player they see as a key part of their future was botched, without a doubt. This sort of paper work is handled by Rick Olczyk, the Oilers assistant GM and director of hockey operations and legal affairs.

To pillory Olczyk over this would be redundant. He’s probably beating himself up over it already.

And, on the whole, the way the Oilers are stumbling toward the end of the season, Paajarvi might prefer to be in Oklahoma City, at that.

Oh, and below, please find the piece I wrote about Bridgman’s gaffe, back in ’92 (“Ottawa apologizes.”)

The Senators’ general manager had just taken Todd Ewen, the Montreal Canadiens tough guy, as pick 33 in the expansion draft on Thursday.

Wrong, said Brian O’Neill, the NHL’s executive vice-president. Montreal already had lost the maximum two players — goaltender Frederic Chabot to Tampa and left-winger Sylvain Turgeon to the Senators.

None of the 17 people seated around the Senators’ table had crossed Chabot’s name off their list. So when the Senators chose Turgeon, nobody realized he was the final Montreal player who could be taken.

After the Ewen gaffe, Bridgman stepped off stage and slouched back to the draft table for further consultation.

A few minutes later, Bridgman headed back to select Mark Freer, a 23-year-old minor-leaguer from the Philadelphia Flyers.

At pick No. 40, the second-to-last forward Ottawa would pick, Bridgman went for Todd Hawkins of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Oops. Toronto had lost its maximum two players also.

Back to the table went Bridgman. More discussion. Then back to the podium.

”The Senators choose C.J. Young,” he said.

Wrong again. Young, who played for Team U.S.A. at the Albertville Olympics, wasn’t on the final list of available players.

More discussion. At one point, Bridgman, John Ferguson, Ottawa’s director of player personnel, and Senators CEO Randy Sexton all walked on stage to confer with O’Neill, Jim Gregory, the NHL’s vice-president of hockey operations, and Garry Lovegrove, of the league’s central player registry.

”This is not entirely Ottawa’s fault,” O’Neill said. ”Young’s name was on an earlier list, but it was reviewed and an exemption was discovered. His name did not appear on the final list.”

An embarrassed, weary Bridgman explained the mistake to a questioner.

”The list we had included Young’s name,” he said. ”Late this afternoon we were handed an envelope which contained a list on which his name did not appear. I never saw that list.”

Bridgman wasn’t the only one slightly baffled by the process of choosing the NHL’s castoffs.

Long after the draft was completed, Ferguson, talking with reporters, spoke favorably about the toughness of the Senators, with players like Mike Peluso and Ewen, the disqualified Senator.

If Ferguson was mildly oblivious, Bridgman was annoyed with himself.

”I guess I take things like that personally,” he said. ”I feel embarrassed.”

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/31/ottawa-apologizes-grundmans-gaffe-dales-deadline-tambellinis-screw-up/feed/0rjmackinnonLos Angeles Kings 4, Edmonton Oilers 1: Oilers Lose Ladislav Smid And Jeff Petry To Injuryhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/los-angeles-kings-4-edmonton-oilers-1-oilers-lose-ladislav-smid-and-jeff-petry-to-injury/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/los-angeles-kings-4-edmonton-oilers-1-oilers-lose-ladislav-smid-and-jeff-petry-to-injury/#commentsSat, 31 Mar 2012 04:43:33 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=115662The Oilers were outshot 32-to-14 by the Kings (including missed and blocked shots, that total rises to 76-to-34), and sadly that reflected the balance of play in the game. Edmonton generated virtually no offense, allowed the Kings to wander around …]]>

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was one of the rare bright spots in a miserable game for the Oilers against Los Angeles.

The Oilers were outshot 32-to-14 by the Kings (including missed and blocked shots, that total rises to 76-to-34), and sadly that reflected the balance of play in the game. Edmonton generated virtually no offense, allowed the Kings to wander around with impunity in their own end, and didn’t get any help from its goaltender.

To add salt to the wound, Ladislav Smid left the game after getting drilled by Dustin Brown, reportedly with a neck injury, while Jeff Petry left the game after taking a puck in the face as he attempted to hold the offensive blue line. It was one of those nights.

#5 Ladislav Smid, 6. Smid was playing quite well before a Dustin Brown hit right in the numbers knocked him out of the game.

#6 Ryan Whitney, 3. Whitney was forced to play well over his head, thanks to the absences on the Oilers’ blueline tonight and the desire of the healthy guys to land themselves in the penalty box. Still, the Oilers were outshot 15-to-4 at even-strength with him on the ice.

#10 Shawn Horcoff, 5. Horcoff generated almost no offense and was on the ice for almost no offense against, which by default makes him better than the majority of the team.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 6. Eberle scored the Oilers’ lone goal, and also fired three shots that missed the net. Generated some offense on a night where it was in short supply.

#15 Nick Schultz, 6. Played a game-high 26:02 with the absence of Smid and Petry, getting the most and the toughest ice-time of any player in the game.

#28 Ryan Jones, 3. One shift in particular exemplified Jones’ game for me; late in the first where he first made a weak clearing attempt out of his own end through a mess of Kings’ players that led to trouble; in the same shift he took a gratuitous retaliatory penalty. Bounced around the lineup and didn’t really mesh anywhere; got caught gawking on the Kings’ final goal.

#35 Nikolai Khabibulin, 3. This loss wasn’t on Khabibulin – the entire team collapsed – but he didn’t help matters either. Rebounds in particular were a problem, with seemingly every Kings shot generating some sort of second chance.

#37 Lennart Petrell, 5. The sun rises in the east, the sky is blue, and Lennart Petrell plays a low-event, primarily defensive game.

#44 Corey Potter, 5. Potter played more than 22 minutes and could have looked much, much worse.

#54 Chris Vande Velde, 4. I was underwhelmed with Vande Velde’s performance at even-strength (short as it was) but thought he was quite good on the penalty kill.

#55 Ben Eager, 4. Tom Renney kept going back to Darcy Hordichuk late in the game when he was looking for energy, and that’s because Eager wasn’t really doing a lot. The Oilers finished with 23 hits; Eager had none of them.

#56 Teemu Hartikainen, 5. Hartikainen, on the other hand, was a hit-throwing, shot-blocking machine, with four of the former and three of the latter.

#58 Jeff Petry, 4. Petry was having a rough night even before the puck in the face ended it.

#83 Ales Hemsky, 4. Watching the game, Hemsky’s timing just felt off – passes weren’t connecting for whatever reason, and there were a few too many fly-by defensive plays for my taste, where Hemsky would poke at the puck and not do much else. Took a very marginal hooking call.

#89 Sam Gagner, 3. Gagner’s line rarely generated anything offensively and spent way too much time in their own end. The line-shuffling may not have helped but Gagner looked ill at ease.

#91 Magnus Paajarvi, did not play. The Oilers recalled Paajarvi but were forced to send him back after the NHL ruled they had already used up their recalls. For those wondering: the Oilers made a paper assignment of Paajarvi to Oklahoma City and then recalled him on the trade deadline, which brings their total number of recalls to four. The Vande Velde recall – reported in some quarters as an “emergency” recall – was ruled a full recall, undoubtedly because Vande Velde spent some time as a healthy scratch, and that isn’t covered by any definition of emergency.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. The best part of tonight’s game, for me, was seeing Nugent-Hopkins cut in front of Dustin Brown and hammer him with a good, clean hit after Brown had hit Nugent-Hopkins earlier. Beyond that, he was probably the best Oiler in terms of moving the puck in the right direction on a night where the Oilers did precious little of that.

#94 Ryan Smyth, 5. Minus-2 tonight but not really to blame on any of the plays. Showed a rare burst of emotion late when he slashed Kings’ forward Brad Richardson and then went after him with less than four minutes to go in the game, a play that ended his night.

A former Tory caucus member fanned the flames of the no-meet committee pay scandal on Friday, accusing Progressive Conservative leader Alison Redford of letting cabinet ministers keep a hefty raise while backbenchers are forced to refund …

]]>Karen Kleiss
Edmonton Journal

A former Tory caucus member fanned the flames of the no-meet committee pay scandal on Friday, accusing Progressive Conservative leader Alison Redford of letting cabinet ministers keep a hefty raise while backbenchers are forced to refund committee pay.

Richard Marz, who stepped down last week as Tory MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, told CTV News that if backbenchers have to pay back committee money, cabinet ministers should have to refund the 30 per cent raises they got in lieu of committee pay in 2008.

“Everybody’s not a parasite here,” Marz said. “You know, a lot of them are damn hardworking people and I’m just disappointed with the way the feeding frenzy seems to be on the private member MLAs and the people that got the 30 per cent supposedly to sit on committees because they don’t get paid committee pay, what’s happening there? You know, nothing.”

Unlike backbenchers, cabinet ministers in Alberta do not receive money for sitting on individual committees. Instead, they get a lump sum of $3,500 a month for all committee work. They have not been asked to pay any of that money back.

That lump sump monthly payment was itself the centre of controversy in 2008, when the Tory cabinet ministers under former Premier Ed Stelmach gave themselves a 30 per cent raise behind closed doors.

Marz’s comments have the potential to reignite public fury over those salary increases, which Stelmach defended as necessary at the time.

The attack from Marz comes just one day after Redford publicly apologized for failing to act sooner to address public anger over the $1,000 a month MLAs received for being on a committee that hasn’t met since 2008.

Responding to Marz allegations Friday in Leduc, Redford seemed surprised and said only that the 2008 salary hike was “made some time ago.

“In terms of whether or not those two are connected, I can’t say that they are or aren’t,” Redford said. “I don’t know why he would have that perspective.”

With files from James Wood, Calgary Herald

kkleiss@edmontonjournal.com
twitter.com/ablegreporter

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/115652/feed/0MarzablegreporterLive blog 78: Kings vs. Oilershttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/live-blog-78-kings-vs-oilers/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/live-blog-78-kings-vs-oilers/#commentsSat, 31 Mar 2012 01:05:56 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=115624Kings vs. Oilers, or, as has been the case the last few seasons, Former Oilers vs. Current Oilers.

Games against Los Angeles are always a good time to catch up with the departed, both dear and not-so-dear. Tonight’s game will …

]]>Kings vs. Oilers, or, as has been the case the last few seasons, Former Oilers vs. Current Oilers.

Games against Los Angeles are always a good time to catch up with the departed, both dear and not-so-dear. Tonight’s game will likely see four former Oilers in the lineup for Los Angeles: Dustin Penner, Jarret Stoll, Matt Greene and Colin Fraser.

Beyond that, this is an absolutely pivotal game for the Kings, hanging on to the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs by their fingernails. Despite a month of March that has seen the team go 9-4-0 they’re tied with San Jose at 88 points, just two points up on Colorado and three points up on Calgary. On the other side of things, they’re also just one point out of first in their division and the third overall seed in the West. A win against a beatable Edmonton team would go a long way.

As always, we’ll be hosting our live blog of the game; we hope you can join us at 7:30 PM. We’ll kick off by talking about the lineup decisions and then see what happens on the ice. The game will be broadcast on Sportsnet-West and 630 CHED.

It's been a difficult, at times painful sophomore season for Magnus Paajarvi.

* * *

UPDATE: The Oilers’ intended recall of Magnus Paajarvi has been rejected by the NHL. According to GM Steve Tambellini on the Oilers web site: “We believed we had confirmation to recall Magnus as one of our four call-ups after the trade deadline. The league informed us today the only way he could be recalled was under an emergency recall basis.”

Expected to play on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle tonight, Paajarvi has instead been reassigned to the OKC Barons.

* * *

The Edmonton Oilers announced this morning that they have recalled winger Magnus Paajarvi from their AHL affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons.

It’s been an up-and-down sophomore season for the swift Swede, literally in the sense that he has been sent down to OKC three different times and called back up an equal number of times.

Paajarvi has played 41 games with the big club in 2011-12, posting desultory boxcars of 2-6-8, with just 4 penalty minutes and a -7 rating. That’s a far cry from the 15-19-34 that he posted in 80 games in a promising rookie season a year ago.

Down in OKC there are signs that Paajarvi continues to find his game. Since his most recent demotion on February 29, he has played 13 games, posting solid numbers of 4-8-12, +7, with an impressive 43 shots on goal. On the season he has 22 points in 27 games with the Barons, ranking second on the team in points per game behind Linus Omark. Both Swedes started the season with the big club and it now appears both will finish up here as well.

While Paajarvi’s shot rates are impressive, his conversion rates are much less so. He has 5 goals in 80 shots in the AHL, just 2 on 79 shots in the NHL, for a combined shooting percentage of just 4.4% in 2011-12. That lack of finish has spread to his teammates, at least at the NHL level. With Paajarvi on the ice, the Oilers as a team have outshot their opposition — among the forwards only Taylor Hall can make a similar claim — but have converted just 3.6% of those shots into actual goals.

No word yet on where or even if Paajarvi will slot into the line-up against the LA Kings tonight. The Oilers boasted a full complement of 14 forwards in practice yesterday, with tough guys Ben Eager and Darcy Hordichuk skating as extras.

Sherman said that while there are still concerns about how Medevac flights will be handled once the airport …

]]>Liberal Leader Raj Sherman took aim Friday at Wildrose counterpart Danielle Smith for wading into the issue of Edmonton’s City Centre Airport.

Sherman said that while there are still concerns about how Medevac flights will be handled once the airport is closed, Edmontonians’ decision to redevelop the area should be respected. Smith said Thursday she would like to revisit the issue, eliciting a strong response from Mayor Stephen Mandel.

Sherman also took aim at Smith’s stance of delaying the reconstruction of the Royal Alberta Museum until the province is again running surpluses.

“I do not agree with Danielle Smith and the Wildrose,” he said. “Arts and culture are an integral component of who we are as a people, it’s part of the economy and it’s part if having fun as Albertans. This museum needs to be built. It was promised, it was expected. If you want to revitalize Edmonton and revitalize Alberta and tell our story, let’s do that by building the Royal Alberta Museum.”

Sherman was also asked about the possibility of a minority government, and whether his party could work with either the PCs or Wildrose.

“I have no trouble working with anybody on anything that makes sense,” he said. “Every political party asked me to join them when I was an independent.”

“I got along with everybody when I was in the house, regardless of which party, expect maybe a certain past health minister,” he said, referring to the retiring Ron Liepert.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/sherman-takes-aim-at-smith/feed/1kgereinRyan Smyth is the Edmonton Oilers King of the Blue Paint. Belanger, Lander, Omark? Not so much.http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/ryan-smyth-is-the-edmonton-oilers-king-of-the-blue-paint-belanger-lander-omark-not-so-much/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/30/ryan-smyth-is-the-edmonton-oilers-king-of-the-blue-paint-belanger-lander-omark-not-so-much/#commentsFri, 30 Mar 2012 22:50:37 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=115633Paajarvi could certainly take some lessons from Ryan Smyth

Oilers Coach Tom Renney has long preached about the necessity of attackers going to the blue paint of the goal crease. In recent weeks, Renney’s most often had at least one …

Paajarvi could certainly take some lessons from Ryan Smyth

Oilers Coach Tom Renney has long preached about the necessity of attackers going to the blue paint of the goal crease. In recent weeks, Renney’s most often had at least one player who specializes in that task on each forward line.

Ryan Smyth, Ryan Jones, Teemu Hartikainen and Lennart Petrell have all been deployed as the screener/jammer/crease crasher on their respective lines. All have done a decent job.

Smyth is the top crease crasher on the Oilers. After 77 games, Smyth has either screened or jammed the goalie, charged hard to the net or deflected the puck on 64 scoring chances at even strength. He’s also made 40 such hard plays at the net on the power play.

Next best is Shawn Horcoff, who does most of his work in the blue paint on the power play, where he’s had 42 hard plays at the net on scoring chances, 19 at even strength.

Ryan Jones is third best, with 45 hard plays on scoring chances at even strength, 12 on the power play. Taylor Hall is fourth with 30 hard net plays at even strength, nine on the power play.

No other Oilers forward has made much of an impact in this role, save for Petrell and Hartikainen in their limited playing time.

As for players who don’t have many hard plays at the net, well, if you’re Jordan Eberle or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, that hardly matters, as that is not your role on the team, nor should it be.

But for players who have struggled to score, such as Anton Lander, Magnus Paajarvi, Linus Omark and Eric Belanger, perhaps the hard play should be a bigger part of their repetoire.

Certainly Paajarvi, with his size and strength, should be out there every day taking lessons from Ryan Smyth on how to effectivley play around the net.

Edmonton filmmaker Kyle Armstrong is in Churchill, Manitoba, dodging polar bears and shooting the northern lights for his next project, Magnetic Reconnection, with the help of imaging specialist Dr. Trond Trondsen.

Armstrong sent along these SPECTACULAR photos of …

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Edmonton filmmaker Kyle Armstrong is in Churchill, Manitoba, dodging polar bears and shooting the northern lights for his next project, Magnetic Reconnection, with the help of imaging specialist Dr. Trond Trondsen.

Armstrong sent along these SPECTACULAR photos of the aurora borealis and a few other odds ‘n’ ends, shot with a digital camera. “We have had 7 out of 8 nights of successful shooting. Very pleased. It’s beautiful here,” he writes. Read more about his cinematic adventures in my Journal story about Armstrong.